Tech - Azzet - Business news, investments companies & executives

Sign inJoin Now

Tech

Tech
Seek reports loss after Zhaopin investment value sinks
Hiring platform Seek swung to a loss last half after the value of its investment in China-based jobs portal Zhaopin plummeted, but has lifted its guidance amid a large increase in revenue. Sales revenue rose 21% year-over-year to A$647 million, while net revenue was up 12% to $601 million. Its reported loss was $178 million, compared to earnings of $140 million a year ago, though adjusted profit grew 35% to $104 million. “This was another half of demonstrable progress across all our strategic priorities. Our placement share lead in Australia grew to 4.9x our nearest competitor; and whilst Asia declined slightly, underlying marketplace metrics are strong and improving across the board,” said CEO Ian Narev. “New products introduced last year are driving customer choice, and creating tangible value that hirers are willing to pay for. The resulting yield growth led to double digit revenue growth, even as macroeconomic conditions continued to impact volumes.” EBITDA increased 19% to $267 million. Operating expenditures rose 7% to $334 million. The company also announced a record interim dividend of $0.27 per share. Across fiscal 2026, it expects net revenue of $1.19-1.23 billion, with adjusted profit of $195-215 milli
Tech
AI boom turns market darling into market threat
Artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted from market darling to market threat in a matter of weeks, unsettling investors and knocking billions off companies once considered insulated from technological change. For much of the past three years, AI was a euphemism for growth. Fund managers crowded into technology giants and software providers on the promise that automation would lift profits. Now the same logic is being turned on its head: if AI can perform high-value tasks once done by people, someone’s revenue is at risk. The selling began in software. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF, a fund that tracks United States software stocks, has fallen sharply this year, with only a handful of its constituents in positive territory. Valuations, measured by the forward price-to-earnings ratio - a gauge comparing share prices to expected profits - have compressed to levels last seen more than a decade ago. From there, the anxiety spread. Insurance brokers were hit after a Madrid start-up, Tuio, launched a ChatGPT-based insurance app. Investors questioned whether AI tools could bypass traditional intermediaries, the brokers who sit between customers and insurers to arrange cover. Shares in Ma
Tech
SaaSpocalypse continues; software sector down another 3%
Enterprise software stocks have shed roughly US$1 trillion in market capitalisation in a fortnight as the S&P 500 Software Index officially enters a bear market with its relative strength index at 18 - its lowest reading since 1990. The S&P 500 Software & Services Index is off about 20% year to date, while the broader index is up 9% across the same stretch. Adobe's market cap has fallen from $350 billion to $107 billion, erasing its pandemic-era gains, and the WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund is down roughly 20% in 2026.How we got hereThe selloff began on 29 January when SAP's cloud backlog and 2026 revenue outlook fell short of projections, sending the stock down more than 16% and dragging ServiceNow (-11%), Atlassian (-12.6%) and HubSpot (-11.5%) with it. The S&P 500 Software and Services Index slid 8.7% in that single session to a nine-month low, and Microsoft's earnings the following week added pressure with capex ballooning while cloud growth underwhelmed. On 31 January, Anthropic released new plugins for its Claude Cowork productivity tool, bolting on legal, finance and product marketing capabilities under an open-source licence targeting contract review, CRM and analytics - workflows that overlap with enterprise
Tech
Uber dips 5.2% on soft profit guidance
Uber’s fourth-quarter revenue has surpassed expectations, but shares fell over 5% on Wednesday as the company issued soft profit guidance. Revenue grew 20% year-over-year to US$14.37 billion, driven by a 22% growth in trips from last year and surpassing Wall Street expectations of $14.32 billion. The company’s ride-hailing platform generated $8.2 billion in revenue, up 19% from last year, and deliveries accounted for US$4.9 billion of the revenue, a 30% rise year-over-year. Analysts from SteetAccount expected mobility revenue of $8.3 billion and delivery revenue of $4.72 billion. “Uber accelerated into another record-breaking quarter, with more than 200 million monthly users completing more than 40 million trips every day—our largest and most engaged consumer base ever,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said. Net income also grew 27% from the same time last year to 71 cents per share. This beat analysts' predictions of 69 cents per share. Net income for the quarter was $296 million, which included a $1.6 billion “net pre-tax headwind from revaluations of our equity investments,” the company said. Net income a year earlier was $6.88 billion. The ride share company also reported a 22% rise in gross bookings to $54.1 b
Tech
Super Micro Computer revenue soars, shares rise 7%
Super Micro Computer issued stronger-than-expected guidance after its revenue surged last quarter, sending shares up 6.9% in after-hours trading. Net sales were US$12.68 billion, up from $5.68 billion year-over-year and passing Zacks estimates by 21.4%. Earnings per share were $0.69, rising from $0.61 and above estimates of $0.49. “With our leading AI server and storage technology foundation, strong customer engagements, and expanding global manufacturing footprint, we are scaling rapidly to support large AI and enterprise deployments while continuing to strengthen our operational and financial execution,” said Supermicro CEO Charles Liang. “Our DCBBS, Data Center Building Block Solutions, enable customers to scale faster, greener, and at lower cost, Supermicro is well positioned to capture the next wave of AI and IT infrastructure demand.” Supermicro projects net sales of at least $12.3 billion and earnings per share of at least $0.60 for the quarter ending in March. Zacks estimates include $10.28 billion in sales and $0.61 in earnings per share. Operating expenses rose from $301.40 million to $324.27 million, driven by increases in research & development and general & administrative spending. Income from operation

Tech
AMD stock slides 5% despite Q4 earnings and revenue beat
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares dipped 5% in after hours trading, despite posting a 34% year-over-year revenue increase for the December quarter to US$10.3 billion, driven by record demand for its data centre and AI platforms. That surpassed analyst projections of $9.67 billion - as did its earnings per share (EPS) of $1.53, exceeding an expected $1.32. Revenue growth was led by AMD’s Data Centre segment, which totalled $5.4 billion, up by 39% year-over-year. Client revenue came in at $3.1 billion, up 34% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for Ryzen processors, yet was partially offset by Embedded sales, which saw only modest growth. AMD CEO Lisa Su said the company had delivered a "defining year" for 2025, with record revenue and earnings driven by strong execution. "We are entering 2026 with strong momentum across our business, led by accelerating adoption of our high-performance EPYC and Ryzen CPUs and the rapid scaling of our data centre AI franchise. "Our record fourth quarter and full-year results demonstrate AMD's ability to deliver profitable growth at scale." AMD’s Q1 2026 outlook sees expected revenue to come in at $9.8 billion, +/- $300 million - sitting comfortably above the consensus esti
Tech
Palantir revenue surges on US growth
Palantir beat earnings and revenue estimates last quarter as United States revenue soared, sending shares up 5.6% after-hours. Revenue surged 70% year-over-year to US$1.41 billion, passing LSEG estimates of $1.33 billion. Earnings per share were $0.25, up from $0.14 and above estimates of $0.23. “Last quarter, our U.S. revenue grew 93% year-over-year and U.S. commercial revenue grew 137% year-over-year. We are also announcing a 2026 revenue growth guide of 61% year-over-year,” said Palantir CEO Alex Karp. “We are an n of 1, and these numbers prove it. Palantir is alone in choosing to exclusively focus on scaling the operational leverage made possible by the rapid advancements of AI models, a trend that we first called ‘commodity cognition’ well before others started repeating it.” U.S. revenue was up 93% year-over-year to $1.08 billion, with U.S. commercial revenue rising 137%. U.S. government revenue also increased 66%. Its income from operations was $798.47 million, growing from just $11 million the prior year. It closed $4.26 billion in total contract value, up 138%, including 67% growth in the U.S. Total customer count was up 34%. For 2026's first quarter, it projects revenue of $1.532-1.536 billion and in
Tech
ASML lands far ahead of guidance, thanks to AI chips
ASML has reported a record number of orders for its fourth quarter, and bumped up its guidance for the upcoming year. The Dutch semiconductor company saw bookings in the fourth quarter come in ahead of estimates, to the tune of €13.2 billion (A$22.35 billion) compared to €7.1 billion the same time a year ago, driven by an ongoing increase in demand from AI chipmaker businesses. Earnings per share for the quarter landed at €7.35, below estimates of €7.58. Revenue landed at €9.72 billion, ahead of analysts' estimates of €9.57, with expectations of €8.50 for the next quarter. Despite overall positive results, ASML also announced job cuts, 3.8% of staff or around 1700 jobs, as part of a broader plan to cut back management roles and focus on engineering. At the time of writing, ASML (AMS: ASML) was trading down 0.20% to 1,192.0.
Tech
Tesla facing annual revenue drop for first time
Tesla has seen a drop in annual revenue for the first time ever, according to its latest earnings report, for the fourth quarter and the 2025 overall review. For the three months leading to the end of December, the automaker's revenue dropped by 3%, or US$24.901 billion, compared to the same time last year. Net income took a heavier hit, down 61% for the fourth quarter, to the tune of $840 million. For the next quarter, ending in April, analysts are expecting earnings per share to come in at $0.45, compared to $0.50 in Q4, and revenue of $‪23.23 billion. The latest report found that the company's energy generation and storage were up by 25% in 2025, but automotive sales declined by 11%. This comes as Tesla announced it would be ending production of both the Model S and Model X cars, with plans to use the manufacturing facilities to produce Optimus, instead, the company's line of humanoid robots. There will also be an investment of $2 billion into Elon Musk's AI project, xAI. "It's going to be a very big [capital expenditure] next year," Musk said on a post-report call with analysts. “We're making big investments for an epic future.” At the time of reporting, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) was finished trading 0.1%